Aria :blobcattrans: :blobcatpopcorn:ariarhythmic@ohai.social
Sep 30, 2026, 4:20 PM@davidrevoy What does PyroCircus actually do then?
Replies
Stefan Baur 8 * 💉farbenstau@infosec.exchangeSep 30, 2026, 4:39 PM@ariarhythmic @davidrevoy It casts a ring of fire, rather than the fireball you'd get by casting "PyroBolus". (I should know, since I was the one that came up with that spell.) You could also try casting "PyroTriangulus Aequilaterus" to draw a flaming pointer into the air.
Just don't confuse any of them with "IgnisMe", or your eyebrows will not be the only part of your body that's on fire.
- Aria :blobcattrans: :blobcatpopcorn:ariarhythmic@ohai.socialSep 30, 2026, 4:43 PM
@farbenstau @davidrevoy Hm, so the AI did give the correct response this time?
- Stefan Baur 8 * 💉farbenstau@infosec.exchangeSep 30, 2026, 4:46 PM
@ariarhythmic Unless @davidrevoy wants to troll me and my spellcasting skills really hard, I would indeed hope so, yes.😉
David Revoydavidrevoy@framapiaf.orgSep 30, 2026, 5:11 PM@farbenstau @ariarhythmic Yes, I had to give that to the Parrot; correct answer for once. 😆
But I really was tempted by putting again "IgnisMe"...- Stefan Baur 8 * 💉farbenstau@infosec.exchangeSep 30, 2026, 5:15 PM
@davidrevoy @ariarhythmic Well, Cepper probably would have remembered that as being the wrong spell, and, in a fit of anger, would have cast and aimed a PyroBolus at that dang thing.
- Aria :blobcattrans: :blobcatpopcorn:ariarhythmic@ohai.socialSep 30, 2026, 5:18 PM
@farbenstau @davidrevoy Assuming "Pyro" is to conjure a shape of fire, and "Ignis" is to set fire to someone or something that is already physical, how would you, as an alternative to PyroBolus, direct "Ignis" at a parrot?
- Stefan Baur 8 * 💉farbenstau@infosec.exchangeSep 30, 2026, 5:23 PM
@ariarhythmic @davidrevoy IgnisAvum might be worth a try. I'd describe it as "Fry the bird".
- Aria :blobcattrans: :blobcatpopcorn:ariarhythmic@ohai.socialSep 30, 2026, 5:26 PM
@farbenstau @davidrevoy What language are we grabbing those words from, anyway?
If you have a magic system, better make sure it follows consistent conventions.
- Stefan Baur 8 * 💉farbenstau@infosec.exchangeSep 30, 2026, 5:29 PM
@ariarhythmic @davidrevoy Latin, like every mage of culture would, of course. Only savages cast their spells in ancient Greek.
- Aria :blobcattrans: :blobcatpopcorn:ariarhythmic@ohai.socialSep 30, 2026, 5:38 PM
@farbenstau @davidrevoy So spells are actually language-agnostic, and the choice is up to the caster? One of those systems where the chanting only serves to help with structure, and can be skipped given skill? That wouldn't seem right, given what we've seen so far.
And if there's a super special magic language, it needs to be consistent.
- Stefan Baur 8 * 💉farbenstau@infosec.exchangeSep 30, 2026, 6:02 PM
@ariarhythmic Well, it's obviously @davidrevoy's world, so he gets to decide how much of this is a jab at a rival caste of mages, and how much of this is actually true, but I would say trying to cast spells in ancient Greek is like trying to create the Sistine Chapel with finger paint.
An inexperienced mage casting PyroCircus may end up with an oval or egg-shaped torus, or one with jagged edges. But with sufficient experience, a perfect circle can be achieved. Trying the corresponding spell in ancient Greek will always result in a "messier" form. - Stefan Baur 8 * 💉farbenstau@infosec.exchangeSep 30, 2026, 7:31 PM
@ariarhythmic @davidrevoy By the way, here's a techno mage trying to cast PyroCircus. I think he still has a long way to go. https://youtu.be/QMy4SeShfvA?t=94
Jerkjerk@brettspiel.spaceSep 30, 2026, 10:10 PM@davidrevoy Well, there is a chance, to help with this. The parrot could be only kind of right and PyroCircus is a ring of fire, but turning inwards - burning her once again, while PyroKyklos / IgnisCircus would have been the one Cepper is instead searching for. It would have been not exactly the wrong answer, technically speaking, but a typical prompter-A.I. mistake, wouldn't it? 😈 Also, a would be reminiscence to the "Can you eat [poison mushroom]"-problem.
- Stefan Baur 8 * 💉farbenstau@infosec.exchangeSep 30, 2026, 10:37 PM
@jerk @ariarhythmic "PyroKyklos"??? Savage!!! Heretic!!!
What's next, calling the God of the Sea and King of all Sea Gods anything other than Neptune?
This is why we can't have nice things, Barbarians at the Gates, yadda yadda yadda …Also, by now I think it's safe to assume that in @davidrevoy's world of Cepper and Parrot, "Ignis" spells set an object aflame, directly, without a stream of fire emanating from the caster of the spell - unlike "Pyro" spells.
- Stefan Baur 8 * 💉farbenstau@infosec.exchangeSep 30, 2026, 10:46 PM
@jerk @ariarhythmic @davidrevoy - another idea for a spell: HannibalAntePortas - materializes a cigar-butt-chewing guy in front of a building's main door, that keeps yapping about a plan coming together (the guy, not the door)
- Jerkjerk@brettspiel.spaceSep 30, 2026, 10:49 PM
@farbenstau Of cause, you are perfectly right in your rage against the barbarians attempts to infiltrate the high, righteous and only true magic language. But please forgive a foolish apprentice. 😉
I am convinced that the master of this world, @davidrevoy, provided he likes my idea, will find the right and true words—or our community will find them for him. 😁
- Stefan Baur 8 * 💉farbenstau@infosec.exchangeSep 30, 2026, 11:06 PM
@jerk @davidrevoy @ariarhythmic *still mutters something about "this was bound to happen, once they started to allow apprenticeships by folks originating from places more than two days down Southeast of the capital, bet they don't even know how to properly spell 'Apollo' down there, either …"*
- Jerkjerk@brettspiel.spaceSep 30, 2026, 11:26 PM
@farbenstau I think you're being unfair to them. From what I've heard, some people from the north have managed to fully internalized not only the language but also the deviousness... ahem... way of life of our fundamentally superior society. At the same time, we apparently have to mourn a certain stagnation within our own ranks, “thanks” to the use of A.I., don't we? People come up with "interesting" ideas these days.